Candidate Statement

My name is Liz Walz and I am a second year, exercise biology major with a lot of experience in public service. I love being involved in all aspects of student life here at UC Davis and hope to better serve the student community as a Senator! I have worked as the Healthcare Reform Campaign Coordinator with CalPIRG and as an Intern on the Global Warming Solutions Campaign and the Textbook Affordability Campaign with CalPIRG.

Platform Issues:

Free Open Online Textbooks It doesn’t make sense that students are still paying an average of $900 dollars for textbooks each year when there are free, open online textbooks already available. The only reason open online textbooks aren’t a larger part of the textbook market is that professors don’t know about them yet. It will be my priority to meet with department heads and individual professors letting them know about this amazing resource.

Publishing Instructor and Course Evaluations Student evaluations of teachers and courses are meant to give faculty feedback that can help them improve their teaching strategies and the overall quality of the course. Right now only the faculty have access to this information and I think it is crucial that students have access to this information too. If students were able to view the evaluations they could better choose courses that work for them, having a better idea of professor’s teaching styles and course format. Although there is ratemyprofessor.com, this resource is often unreliable because more often than not, the only people who write reviews are often biased in their reviews. My goal is to work the Academic Senate to publish unbiased teacher evaluations to help students get the best education possible.

Reducing UC Davis’ Carbon Footprint UC Davis is already a leader in green technology and energy conservation, but what most students don’t know is that there are very simple, easy things that they can do today to help Davis become even more energy efficient. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) are more energy efficient light bulbs and have been donated to the university by local businesses in the past. I want to get more donated and organize light bulb exchanges, where students can exchange their old light bulbs for these new light bulbs, during events such as Sustainability Week, Picnic Day, and Whole Earth Festival. I also want to reach out to groups and clubs on campus, letting them know about competitively priced, zero-waste (biodegradable cups/plates/silverware etc) supply kits sold through student services for events.

Please vote Liz Walz #1, LEAD #2-6, and Jack Zwald and Previn Witana #1 for ASUCD President and Vice President.